Greener Hair Care

Today I'm going to talk about my hair care regiment, which is pretty much nothing at all! I use a total of four items to care for my hair! Baking soda, apple cider vinegar, water, and (once in a blue moon) olive oil!

I know, you're asking yourself "What the heck?", but I wash my hair with 2 Tablespoons of baking soda mixed into one liter of warm water. Now you're saying to yourself, "That's not shampoo!", and you're right, it's the no shampoo method (Some call it the "No 'Poo Method", but it sounds bad..lol!).

Now why would I rather use baking soda and water to wash my hair? Simple, it's a green choice, and I know that the ingredients do not cause cancer. Why would I say that shampoo can cause cancer?! I'm not saying that ALL shampoos cause cancer, but it sure is hard to find the ones that DON'T have ingredients that cause cancer, AND when you do find them, they are quite expensive!

With Baking soda as my "shampoo", I can get a box of it for a dollar, and wash my hair possibly over 100 times for that $1. After all, currently water in our town is free from the tap!  All you do is dampen your hair with water, use the baking soda water, and scrub your hair with it, then rinse well.

Now for my "conditioning" method, up to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in one liter of warm water. I get a liter of apple cider vinegar for about $4, and (again) water is free! How does it work? Simple, after washing your hair and rinsing it, douse your hair with the cider vinegar water, scrub well, then rinse well! That's it! If you rinse well, your hair will not smell of the vinegar, although I personally put in about 5 -10 drops of lavender essential oil because I like the smell more than the vinegar, but it is not necessary.

So now your wondering why I have olive oil on the list, since I have the "shampoo", and the "conditioning" covered. Well, every 3-4 months I like to give my hair a hot oil treatment, meaning that I take 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, heat it to body temperature, and let it sit for ten minutes, then wash my hair. It helps make it feel silkier, and (even though it's bad for the environment) I like to die my hair, so it also keeps it from getting that dried out look.

Now, do I suggest you try these methods, heck yeah! Do I say you have to, no. If you do try them, remember that it takes about a month for your hair to adjust to this method of cleaning, since store bought shampoo strips your hair of it's natural oils, and this method works on using the natural oils of your hair to keep it healthy. Even if you don't want to wash or condition your hair this way, try the olive oil, it's great!  :)